“As a former spokesman for the
Republican National Committee and adviser to prominent party figures,
I'm also a professional political operative who's helped install in
government those who perpetuate marriage bias in America,” he
wrote.

Though he said that he's “preached
the small-government virtues of equal marriage” to his party, he
never once wrote that he's gay.

“For my admission here, I will
alienate friends whose faiths regard my sexuality as culturally
corrosive. I'll suffer the snickering of those across the aisle
whose politics regard my own as personally injurious. And
conservative clients may regard me as a liability,” he
wrote.

Richardson has worked as an adviser for
Republican Governors Haley Barbour of Mississippi and Jon Huntsman of
Utah. Huntsman last year endorsed marriage equality.